The pandemic has caused a seven-fold drop in the amount of money that Bulgarians abroad send to their relatives in the homeland. For the first 7 months of 2021, they have transferred just 98 million euros, according to the Bulgarian National Bank. In 2019 Bulgarians abroad sent a record sum of over 1 billion euros to their homeland. The working Bulgarians in the U.S., Germany and Spain sent the biggest sums to their relatives.

"Emigrant money plays a role of a complementary income for many households, especially for the poorer. The money is most often spent on food, fuel, and the purchase of small appliances. The decline would not affect the economy greatly but it would have an impact on household budgets", Adrian Nikolov from the Institute for Market Economy has told Radio Blagoevgrad.